Quote Originally Posted by Trazoi View Post
I haven't played a God of War game, but that would be my reasoning. If the contest rules are that it's to be "God of War" style, then Kratos winning is a requirement. Any mythology Kratos is put against will be gimped to the point where he will win. After all, there's no way a demigod could kill off most of the main players in the Greek pantheon if they were playing by Greek mythology rules.

As I'm only loosely aware of the plot of the games I'm assuming they take liberties with the mythology, because it's not as if the Greek pantheon would sit idly by while someone tore their way through their number. The Greeks were all about strategic team warfare rather than one-on-one combat, and their gods were the same. If Zeus got into a large fight, he'd bring his retinue along with him. Even Ares tended to fight with the goddesses Eris and Enyo alongside.

If the games followed what I know of the Greek myths (and taking into account my limited knowledge of the plot of the games), if Kratos killed off Persephone in the prequel Chains of Olympus - before he even became God of War - then he's pretty much screwed. Unless there's a very good reason otherwise, Kratos now has Hades and Demeter as mortal enemies. Hades he could possibly escape if Kratos never visits the underworld again (which I'm fairly sure he does; I think he defeats Persephone there, which means he's up the Styx without a paddle). Demeter would kill the world with perpetual famine until Kratos was eliminated, which means Kratos would very quickly have all of the planet as well as the entire pantheon offside. Game over.

Of course, that's not what happens. Somehow Hades, Demeter and the rest of them are all hunky-dory about one of their number being killed by a mortal, and allow Kratos to pick them off one by one. That's because Kratos has the ultimate trump card, Protagonist Power, which is a given if he faces absolutely anything in a God of War setting. Therefore, if the prerequisite is that the battle is in a GoW setting, Kratos wins. If the mythology is allowed to dictate events, Kratos loses.

(Incidentally, what in-story reason is given for the Greek gods allowing Kratos to kill Persephone? I'd expect Demeter at least to be world-murderingly pissed off, regardless of the motive).
As I said, "God of War" style is not saying the rules are intended as a God of War game. We're assuming that Kratos is hunting down the Norse gods one at a time and that the Norse gods aren't going to gang up on him all at once, much like the events in the games with the Greek gods. If the Greek gods had ganged up on him he probably would have lost, and he definitely would lose if the Norse gods did the same.

That's not to say the Norse gods won't do what they can to stop him as he hunts them, I could easily see Loki popping up and making things difficult until Kratos goes and tracks him down.

And yes, we're taking away both teams' plot power. Kratos is not going to automatically win for being Kratos, and the Norse gods aren't going to automatically win because someone else is destined to kill them. That takes all the fun out of it.